This year's ski trip for the eighth-graders will be the last in the history of the Nelson Mandela School, because the school community has decided to discontinue it in the future for environmental reasons. Instead, an eighth-grade trip will be held in the summer with sports activities at a different location.
From 14-22 February 2025, the entire eighth grade, eight teachers and three upper secondary school students went to Seeboden, Carinthia, to ski at the Goldeck ski resort for six days. As always, the trip started in front of the sports hall on Güntzelstraße and at around 7 p.m. a double-decker bus set off with all the participants on board. At around 7 a.m. the bus arrived at the accommodation, the Ertlhof in Seeboden, and everyone was treated to a delicious breakfast. Three of the teachers came by car to be more flexible once they arrived. On the first day, the group went on a long hike in the picturesque surroundings and rented ski equipment before they could move into their rooms in the afternoon. In the evening, the ski groups were divided and a first meeting was held, during which the ski passes were handed out and the ski rules were discussed. The day went by quickly and since everyone was still quite exhausted from the night drive, we went to bed early. The next day, the first day of skiing began early at 7 a.m., breakfast was at 8 a.m., and the ski bus picked us up at 9 a.m. At first, it took a while for all students to find their ski equipment at the valley station and to drag it up the mountain in the gondola. After warming up on the mountain, the ski lessons began, from about 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. From 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., everyone met for lunch at the hut, where the packed lunches were eaten and one or two mountain hut specialities were ordered. In the afternoon, skiing was done again until 3 p.m. Then the groups took the gondola to the valley station, returned their ski equipment and waited for the bus, which arrived at 4 p.m. and took us back to the hostel. There, the students had the opportunity to go to the local supermarkets in groups, play in the garden or make themselves comfortable in their rooms. Dinner was at 7 p.m. and at 8 p.m. the individual ski groups met, which often changed according to the students' current level of ability. At 9:30 pm, the students should slowly go to their rooms and from 10 pm, everyone had to be quiet. This daily routine was repeated until the day before departure, when the equipment had to be returned after skiing. On the last evening, everyone packed their bags and then all the students were allowed to let off steam at the disco that the sixth-formers had organised for them. On the morning of 22 March, we returned to Berlin, unfortunately having to wait quite a long time for the bus. Since our bus did not leave for Berlin until around 9:30 in the morning and we had some traffic delays and even a bit of a traffic jam on the way, we unfortunately did not arrive in Berlin until after 10 p.m.
